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Gerard Voisine
Gerard Voisine was elected to Parliament in April 3335. He began his parliamentary career as Chief of Staff to Deputy Leader Max Lippincott. After Lippincott was defeated in a leadership election, Voisine aligned himself Léon Ajzenstat and Claude Desmarais. While Ajzenstat and Desmarais were bitter political rivals, they both served as mentors to Voisine. Voisine eventually worked his way up to becoming Chief Whip under Prime Minister James Sharpe. Following Sharpe's death, he became one of Sally Wingo's closest allies. Wingo urged Voisine to stand for the leadership in 3357 but decided against it after a heart attack. He found himself increasingly at odds with Wingo's successor, Véronique Sarrazin. Sarrazin sacked Voisine as Chief Whip and he returned to the back benches where he became one of her fiercest critics. After the Liberals resigned from the government in 3361, Voisine, like many of his colleagues, was outraged. He spent the next year searching for a suitable candidate to challenge Sarrazin for the leadership. However, he found no candidate that could actually beat her. Voisine ultimately decided to challenge Sarrazin himself. The vote was conducted among the parliamentary party and Voisine narrowly defeated Sarrazin. Most historians view Voisine's election as a result of Sarrazin's speech in which she appeared angry and frustrated while Voisine seemed relaxed and focused. After he became leader, he quickly surrounded himself with moderate to conservative allies. Just months into his term as leader, Voisine led the Liberals in the 3364 election. The Liberals lost two seats in Parliament but managed to win the most votes of any party. Additionally, he was able to form a government with the Libertarian Freedom Party. As newly installed Prime Minister Edward Bach handed out portfolios, Voisine was rewarded and became Minister of Foreign Affairs. In late 3365, allegations were made that President Paul MacGuigan was not a natural born citizen of Rutania. While most Rutanians believed that MacGuigan was indeed a citizen, Voisine capitalized on the scandal. Shortly after Parliament returned to work in January 3366, Voisine called for a vote to nominate a new candidate for the presidency. In a highly dramatic and competitve election, Voisine defeated MacGuigan in the party-room ballot to become the Liberal Party's candidate for President. Most expected Voisine to resign from the government and as leader following his nomination, but he instead remained in Parliament to campaign for the presidency. In 3368, Voisine was narrowly elected President of Rutania. While he trailed by a large margin in the first round, he was able to capture nearly 70% of the second preference votes to win the election by just under 2%. However, the Liberals lost over 10% of their seats in Parliament. Among the notable casualties was Véronique Sarrazin. However, his wife and daughter were elected. In 3372, Voisine was defeated by 0.86%. While he initially planned on resigning as leader, he was encouraged to stay on because the parliamentary gains the party made. Two years later, early elections were called and Voisine again returned to the presidency. In 3375, Voisine resigned from the cabinet to focus on the presidency fulltime. However, his health soon deteriorated and he was forced to resign as leader of the Liberal Party.